Biya is back in Cameroon, but can the 93-year-old still rule?
Two months after Paul Biya flew home from Switzerland, Cameroonians are still asking the same question: who is really running the country? The 93-year-old, the world's oldest serving head of state, landed in Yaoundé on 20 August after 73 days abroad, most of it reportedly spent at the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva. It was the longest absence of a presidency that began in November 1982, far beyond his previous record of 42 days away in 2024, and it set off fresh speculation about his health. Since his return, very little has happened. Biya won an eighth term in the disputed October 2025 election, with the Constitutional Council declaring him winner on 53.66 per cent, a result runner-up Issa Tchiroma Bakary still rejects from exile. A year on, he has not named a new government, and a long-promised cabinet reshuffle has yet to come. The bigger worry is succession. In April, parliament restored the post of vice president, whose holder would automatically take over if the president died, resigned or could no longer serve. Only Biya can fill it, and he has not. In June, a sealed envelope containing a supposed presidential decree naming a vice president was delivered to state broadcaster CRTV, a document the government later disputed. Without a vice president, Senate President Aboubakary Abdoulaye would lead until fresh elections. Many analysts see Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary-General of the Presidency, as the country's de facto ruler and a possible vice president-in-waiting. Government spokesman René Emmanuel Sadi insists the timing of any appointments is the president's call alone. Critics say Cameroon is being run on autopilot while it battles a separatist conflict in its English-speaking regions and attacks by Islamic State-linked fighters in the north.
- Biya spent a record 73 days abroad, mostly in Geneva
- Still no new government a year after his disputed re-election
- Vice president post restored in April but remains empty
